The Nuclear Football (also called the Atomic Football, President’s Emergency Satchel, The Button, The Red Button, The Black Box, or just The Football) is a black briefcase meant to be used by the President of the United States of America to authorize a nuclear attack while away from fixed command centers, such as the White House Situation Room. It functions as a mobile hub in the strategic defense system of the United States. The President is always accompanied by a military aide carrying a “football” with launch codes for nuclear weapons.

It is a metallic Zero Halliburton briefcase carried in a black leather “jacket.” The package weighs 40 pounds (18 kg). A small antenna protrudes from the bag near the handle. A black cable is employed that loops around the handle of the bag and the wrist of the aide.

There are four things in the Football. The Black Book containing the retaliatory options, a book listing classified site locations, a manila folder with eight or ten pages stapled together giving a description of procedures for the Emergency Broadcast System, and a three-by-five inch card with authentication codes. The Black Book was about 9 by 12 inches and had 75 loose-leaf pages printed in black and red. On the ‘vital’ page listing possible responses to a nuclear attack, retaliatory options appear in red” and were labeled: ‘Rare, Medium or Well Done.’ The book with classified site locations was about the same size as the Black Book, and was black. It contained information on sites around the country where the president could be taken in an emergency.

If the President, who is Commander-in-Chief, decides to order the use of nuclear weapons, he would be taken aside by the “carrier” and the briefcase opened. Once opened, a command signal or (watch) alert is issued to the Joint Chiefs. The aide and the President would review the attack options and decide upon a plan, such as a single cruise missile or a large ICBM launch. These are precoded, preset war plans, developed under the SIOP, or Single Integrated Operational Plan, which at one time represented the entire joint US/UK plan for “disassembling” the USSR by means of nuclear weapons. It is unclear if it uses SATCOM or VLFT (very low frequency transmission), or VHFT (very high frequency transmission). Next, using the SATCOM radio, the aide would make contact with the National Military Command Center or, in a post-first strike situation, an airborne command-post plane (likely a Boeing E-4B).

Before the order would be processed by the military, the President must be positively identified using a special code issued on a plastic card, nicknamed the “biscuit.” The United States has a two-man rule in place, and while only the President can order the release of nuclear weapons, the order must be confirmed by the Secretary of Defense. Once all the codes had been verified, the military would issue attack orders to the proper units. These orders are given and reverified for authenticity.

The football is carried by one of the rotating presidential military aides (one from each of the five service branches), who occasionally is physically attached to the briefcase. This person is a commissioned officer in the U.S. military, pay-grade O-4 or above, who has undergone the nation’s most rigorous background check (Yankee White). These officers, who are armed, are required to keep the football within ready access of the President at all times. Consequently, an aide, football in hand, is always either standing or walking near the President or riding in Air Force One, Marine One or the presidential motorcade with the President. There are three such ‘footballs’ in existence — the first travels with the President, a spare is kept at the White house and the third is with the Vice President.

Schmap is like your virtual business card – key in your contact address, website URL, phone number, email or any other details that you want to reveal in public and it creates a personal web page for you with all this information.

You can ever grab a personal URL for your contact page and it looks the same on desktop browsers as well as mobile phones.

Your virtual business card with Google Map looks the same everywhere on web & mobile phones

Schmap uses Google Maps to display the location. If privacy is a concern, just enter your city or country in the address field or you may even leave any of the fields blank.

To get your contact page, visit schmap.me. Here are some dummy cards I created to test the service – they look pretty good even on the mobile phone.

The service doesn’t require any registration but if you need a provision to edit your contact details later, they provide a secret URL for that as well.

COUPLE ARRESTED FOR NOT TIPPING IN RESTAURANT

In PENNSYLVANIA, a couple who refused to leave a tip after receiving bad service in a restaurant were arrested by police after being accused of theft.
Leslie Pope and John Wagner claimed they waited an hour for their meal, had to repeatedly ask for drink refills while their waitress smoked outside , and even had to get their own cutlery and napkins. A $16.35 mandatory tip had been added to the bill, but when they paid, they refused to tip. Though Wagner explained why, the restaurant called police, saying the refusal qualified as theft.

So when you are abroad, think before you get into a restaurant.

BTW, what is the normal tip % that you pay in Kuwait?

Kudos to the Veggies of the World. Even the White House endorses ‘vegeterianism’ (at least for the Indian Head of Country, Mr. Manmohan Singh).

The guest list is enviable, of course. The dignatories are from all walks of life.

Dinner Menu

Potato and Eggplant Salad
White House Arugula with Onion Seed Vinaigrette 2008 Sauvignon Blanc, Modus Operandi, Napa Valley, California

Red Lentil Soup with  Fresh Cheese 2006 Riesling, Brooks “Ara”, Wilamette Valley, Oregon

Roasted Potato Dumplings with Tomato Chutney
Chick Peas and Okra
or
Green Curry Prawns
Caramelized Salsify with Smoked Collard Greens
and Coconut Aged Basmati 2007 Granache, Beckmen Vineyards, Santa Ynez, California

Pumpkin Pie Tart
Pear Tatin
Whipped Cream and Caramel Sauce
Sparkling Chardonnay, Thibaut Janisson Brut, Monticello, Virginia

Petits Fours and Coffee
Cashew Brittle
Pecan Pralines
Passion Fruit and Vanilla Gelees
Chocolate-Dipped Fruit

JAI HO!

Dears,

WISHING YOU A VERY HAPPY EID ADHA..

THE LAW FIRM OF LABEED ABDAL

WWW.LALAW.COM.KW

From the team of

The Law Firm of Labeed Abdal

P.O.Box 29175, Safat 13152, Kuwait

Hamad Commercial Centre, 1st Floor
Beside Commercial Bank of Kuwait HO

Ali Al-Salem Street, Al-Mubarakiya, Kuwait

( Voice  + 965 22433707

4 Fax    + 965 22433757
+ E-mail info@lalaw.com.kw

“ Web Site www.lalaw.com.kw

The TARSHEED program has cost a whopping 35 million dollars.

The Ministry of Energy launched, inAug 2007,  an all-encompassing conservation campaign at the start of the summer season in Kuwait. The campaign is called ‘Tarsheed’ which is the Arabic word for “guidance”.  residents in Kuwait were been bombarded with SMS messages, TV & Radio ads, fliers taped to car windshields and stuffed into mailboxes as well as giant placards scattered all over the roads pleading with residents to conserve energy. The Ministry has even ensured that all the languages in Kuwait, from Urdu to Hindi, are included in the campaign. And there is even a hotline that residents can call to report abuses of energy in the country. This was a perfect example of the famous saying ‘ There is darkness below the lamp that glows”. What nobody saw, noticed or reported, is the blatant abuse of power in the government and bank offices, where you can see for yourself, that the lights for all the rooms in the whole building are on 24 x 7. It does not mean that the staff is working round the clock (to raise the productivity index of Kuwait, which is abysmally low). Let the chairman of the Tarsheed campaign take on this education campaign to educate the staff in those government offices to put of the lights & other electrical equipment, when not needed.

Kuwait is the richest country in the World due to its’ mass oil reserves. So, why would a country like this have a problem with energy? Over consumption is the answer. Electricity is cheap in Kuwait. As a result, the public wastes energy because they are not in dire want of it. They take it for granted.

The Tarsheed campaign has been successful in getting the word out and scaring the public silly. No one wants a power shortage. Life comes to a halt in Kuwait when there is no electricity to turn on the AC or even a fan. All you can do is ‘bake’ and pray for the electric to come back on! The public has been very receptive and so far my electricity has not gone off once this summer. And the campaign rolls on. They even installed a few Tarsheed meters around the country. It shows, in real time, the current amount of electricity being used by the country as a whole. The meter has 3 colors…green, orange and red. Motorists passing by the meters can visualize the rate of consumption and (if the meter is in the red area) when they go home they can take appropriate measures to conserve energy and avoid a debilitating power cut.

The newest installment in the rigorous Tarsheed campaign is, what some are calling, the ‘Tarsheed Police’. The Ministry had hired 100 inspectors to ensure that energy is being conserved in Kuwait.

Unfortunately, only recently has Kuwait explored alternatives to deal with the demand for energy for its’ populous. According to the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), a recent study conducted by German scientific research centers have found that if Kuwait utilizes only 10% of its’ total area to generate solar energy from the sun it would be the equivalent of 500,000 barrels of oil per day. The Kuwaiti government is vigorously investing in the renewable energies sector. KISR predicts that Kuwait will be a mass exporter of electricity generated by the Sun by 2050 and will export renewable energy to countries in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Somebody please remind them that ‘Money can’t buy everything’.

Shilpa Shetty, yet another Bollywood babe, married with London-based businessman Raj Kundra in a lavish ceremony in Khandala.

What is strange is Shilpa is 34 and Raj is 33 and also Raj is a divorcee with a kid. Well, after all some wise man said, “Love is blind”.

Shilpa shot to international fame with her stint in UK reality show ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ for the racism row between her and Jade Goody. They did patch up after that. Were Jade alive today, she would have been the best friend from the bride’s side, probably.

The bride wore a burgundy and red saree, embellished with Swarovsky crystals, designed by Tarun Tahiliani while 33-year-old Kundra, who arrived at the wedding venue in a horse-drawn chariot, was dressed in a maroon and gold sherwani designed by Shantanu and Nikhil.

The marriage combined the rituals of the Mangalorean bride and the Punjabi groom with the vows being exchanged according to South Indian tradition while pre-wedding rituals like ‘Mehendi’ and ‘Sangeet’ conducted as per Punjabi tradition.

Wish the couple a Happy Married Life.

If you think having a medium popcorn and soft drink while watching a movie won’t add much to your weight, then it’s time to get a reality check, suggests a new study.

The study by the Center for Science and Public Interest (CSPI) found that consuming popcorn and a drink means taking in three days worth of an adult’s recommended allowance of fat.

The researchers said that a medium popcorn and drink had 1,160 calories.

Even sharing a small portion of cinema popcorn between two would mean each person consumes a day’s worth of saturated fat.

“It’s hard enough for Americans to maintain a healthy weight even when limiting their eating to breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Who realises that they might be taking in a meal’s worth of calories during a movie? The healthiest snack to buy at the movies is no snack at all,” the Telegraph quoted Jayne Hurley, a CSPI senior nutritionist, as saying.

The study also found that a bag of Reese’s Pieces sold at US cinemas contained 1,160 calories and 35 grams of saturated fat, the equivalent of eating a 16-ounce T-bone steak and a buttered baked potato.

The study has been published in Nutrition Action Healthletter.

Well, next time you wanna go out to a new place, of which you have no idea on how to reach, try this out.

http://www.kw.map24.com/search/

Just enter your start and destination location, and the site will guide you via the route map on how to reach to your destination. It also shows what landmarks you will come across, so that you know you are headed in the right direction.

The 3D Route flight is an excellent feature, almost like riding in your car and taking a virtual drive to the destination. It shows the buildings on the route.

Plus many more options. So go ahead and explore.

Unfriend has been named the word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary , chosen from a list of finalists with a tech-savvy bent.
Unfriend was defined as a verb that means to remove someone as a friend on a social networking site such as Facebook.
Other words

Hashtag - the hash sign added to a word or phrase that lets Twitter users search for tweets similarly tagged;

Intexticated –  when people are distracted by texting while driving ,

Sexting – the sending of sexually explicit SMSes and pictures by cellphone.

Freemium –  meaning a business model in which some basic services are provided for free

Funemployed – referring to people taking advantage of newly unemployed status to have fun or pursue other interests

Birther – meaning conspiracy theorists challenging President Barack Obamas US birth certificate,

Choice Mom – a person who chooses to be a single mother.

Deleb – meaning a dead celebrity,

Tramp stamp – referring to a tattoo on the lower back, usually on a woman.